Always Family
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day two hundred and ninety-one: After her post-Sectionals humiliation, Sue is looking to get out...


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 13th cycle. Now cycle 14!_

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**"Always Family"  
Sue & Brittany  
Sylvesters Series #10 - Sequel to 'Oh Captain, No Captain' **

Brittany arrived home that afternoon, still on a sort of high from the 'victory celebration' number they'd all performed for Mr. Schuester. After everything they'd had to do, without him, to recover… It had felt so good to round it all up this way.

Arriving home she had expected this mood to just… carry on, but then she could hear loud noises from somewhere up above. Climbing up the stairs, she could hear the noises were coming from her room. She walked in to find her mother, pulling some of her clothes from her drawers and putting them in a suitcase.

"What's going on?" she asked, getting her mother to stop and look around for a moment before getting back to what she was doing. "Am I going somewhere?" she asked.

"We both are," Sue revealed. "You and I are heading out of here for a little while, going down to Boca," she made to sound excited.

"What about school?"

"I'll write you a note to Figgins, he might be… a little upset right about now, all the more reason for us to get down there for some mother-daughter time." Sue kept on pulling clothes for a moment, but then…

"No." Once again, Sue stopped and looked around, this time confused.

"No?" she repeated. "Yes, we're going," she insisted, moving to continue.

"Stop," Brittany moved up to get the suitcase out of her reach. Sue froze, not for the fact that she'd pulled at the suitcase, but for the tone in her voice, and the look on her face. She'd never done anything in the neighborhood of lashing out, or raising her voice to her… to anyone. "I'm not going anywhere," she shook her head.

"Yes, you are, you… we're going to Florida, we have a flight tonight." Again, Brittany pulled the suitcase further still. "Enough messing…"

"Why don't you want me to be happy?" Brittany looked her in the eye. "Why?" Sue did her best to keep a straight face, not show sign of shock, hurt…

"You're not… happy, to be a Cheerio, to be good, to be better than good?" she put down the clothes she'd grabbed. Brittany looked down, slightly startled.

"I like being a Cheerio," she promised, pausing with a breath. "But I like Glee Club, too. I don't get… You didn't see them, they were all upset, and so was I, only more, because… it was our fault; we did it." Again, the look on her daughter's face just halted her.

"You knew what this was," Sue pointed out, but Brittany shook her head slowly.

"No, I didn't… not really." There was silence, in which Brittany's face went to that upset again. "You knew though," she pointed out, almost like an accusation, and Sue found herself in the rare position of intimidation. It would figure she'd be the one to get her there.

"Give me the suitcase, we need to get ready or we'll miss our flight," Sue tried to get back on track.

"You know I like Glee Club?" Brittany maintained her questions, which made her mother sigh. "You know, so why can't I… Why can't I have this?"

"Because I'm losing you," Sue spoke despite herself, making her pause. Sue looked away, picked up the clothes again. She looked to the suitcase, which Brittany still maintained out of reach. She looked up to her daughter, who met her eye. She already knew the answer, but she had to ask one last time. "Are you coming?" She shook her head. Sue put the clothes down.

"Are you going?" she asked. Sue nodded. "Can I stay at Santana's?"

"Yeah, okay," Sue agreed. After a moment, Brittany took a couple of steps forward and hugged her mother, laying her head over her shoulder, the better for her mother to return the embrace. She did, in seeing what she'd been unable to see, that it would take a lot more than Glee Club for her to lose her.

Maybe the time apart would do them both some good. Sue needed to do some thinking, and now she realized Brittany needed to as well. Her growing love for Glee Club couldn't be something that would turn Sue away from her goals, but it did make it harder. She didn't know whether she'd still be able to count on her, but for the moment it couldn't be their concern.

Sue would go to Boca, Brittany would go to Santana's, and when they came home… they'd see…

THE END

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**_[A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, story alert won't get you anything! ;)]_**


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